Let the Flames Begin
by ShiNoMadoushi
Summary: Fairy Tail is greeted by three mysterious characters with less than benevolent intentions after winning the Grand Magic games and inviting two new Dragon Slayers into the guild.
1. Infiltration

Hekate and I were perched at the top of a stone archway near some ancient ruins we had just finished exploring. We had found nothing after hours of careful examination, so we were on our way to Magnolia primarily to work on our mission and restock our inventory. Safira, who was playfully jumping through oak trees, wasted most of the food supply over the last day, caring little for how much effort I had made harvesting berries and gathering fish. Sometimes I wonder whether I should let the human starve or feed her toxic mushrooms, but at least her friendship makes things bearable. I followed Safira's movement as she amusingly chased a squirrel. That was the only reason we were still here.

"Hex!" Safira called out cheerfully. "I'm ready! Let's go!"

She rolled down into a patch of autumn leaves, making the usual crackling sound. In her hands, she nestled a squirrel, who struggled to escape her grasp.

"No squirrels," I shook my head, recounting the many times her irresponsibility has led to the death of her pets.

"Fine," she muttered frustratingly as she released the forest creature.

"Get rid of the bird," I pointed to a chirping noise that came from her sky blue hair.

"B-but the bird is my friend!" she sobbed, patting the bird on its small, white head.

"Off with its head!" Hekate chanted while running her long, black nails across the throat of her human-sized teddy bear, Stitches.

Safira gently grabbed the baby blue jay from her hair and encouraged it to fly free, away from her vice-like grip. She frowned and kicked the dirt until she noticed an earthworm wriggle its head above ground. She crouched down and poked the creature.

"Oh, hello Mr. Worm! How are you?"

She gazed at the misfortunate worm with her bright, brown eyes while mimicking its movement. How a crystal dragon would even consider teaching such a human their unique crystal dragon slayer magic is beyond my knowledge. As Safira continued to dirty her white shirt and blue shorts, Hekate and I dismounted off the archway, ready to continue on to Magnolia.

"Let's go!" Hekate called out, but Safira ignored her, preferring to continue her worm dance. Hekate grabbed Safira by her collar with her nails and dragged her to Magnolia. Once we were at Magnolia, we were shocked to see the city raised by stone structures, leaving a single passageway with arrows pointing north to the Fairy Tail guild.

"That's convenient… We know where to go…" I stopped to look around.

"Then we can begin the mission! I wonder why the town in like this," Safira began to tie her shoelaces, though she did so poorly.

"That old bloke! What was his name?" Hekate scratched her head. "Gildarts! Yes him! He is here!"

"Who's Gildarts?" Safira asked as she tripped from her untied shoes, falling head first into the pavement.

"He is said to be Fairy Tail's strongest mage," I explained, "They do this just so he won't wander and destroy the town. He shouldn't be too tough…"

"Maybe I'll send him into the Nightmare Realm!" Hekate laughed dementedly, "And feed him to Noxia!"

The Nightmare Realm is a dimension controlled by Hekate, where she keeps her demented abominations. It is a dark world where she tortures humans and uses their corpses to create horrible creatures. Noxia is a large corpse spider whose body is composed of human flesh. Hekate takes us to the Nightmare realm every other week, showing us new creations every time. I wish she would take us there more often though.

"The Nightmare Realm," I recalled the few times I was there, "Such a wonderful place…"

We continued walking; there was only one way to go anyway, what with some contraption elevating the town. The Fairy Tail building was close by, bearing its signature fairy-shaped insignia at the center, held up by two, ivy-covered stone beams.

"I hope the guild members are nice! I've heard so many things about Titania and the Salamander!" Safira sounded excited.

"We are here for the mission," I gritted my teeth as she mentioned the Salamander, Natsu Dragneel. I loathe that overrated bastard and wish to drag him down into the depths of Hekate's Nightmare Realm so that his light may be eclipsed by eternal misery.

"Doesn't mean we can't have fun!" Hekate added jokingly, "I'd sooner kill myself than pass off an opportunity to mess with these poor fools!"

"Lighten up Hex!" Safira patted my hair, sweeping the part that covers the right half of my face to the side.

"Don't do that," I brushed my hair back to its original position.

We opened the door to the guild, where all the guild members were engaged in some sort of argument. The Fairy Tail members threw bottles across the room while using tables that they flipped over as shields. Much to my chagrin, Natsu was thrown straight at me, causing me to fall and my scythe, Blood Hunt, to fly in the opposite direction. It lodged itself on the wall next to a woman with long red hair who wore iron armor—Fairy Tail's Titania. Though I was outraged, I reduced the level of ire with a couple of deep breaths. My white scarf tightened around my neck, desperately trying to reach Natsu so that it may strangle him, but I whispered to it that he is mine to end. Natsu stood up, brushed the dirt off of his white knee-length trousers and entered the fray, eager for retaliation. Safira noticed a blue cat with a white-tipped tail fly around the room.

"Can I keep him?!" She jumped. "He's sooooooo cute!"

"Cat will be dead within two hours!" Hekate giggled as she helped me up.

A blonde haired woman approached us, wearing black, high heel leather boots, a belt that keeps her blue skirt up and has various keys and a whip with a heart-shaped end, and a white, sleeveless blue-trimmed shirt. She bore a pink Fairy Tail mark on her right hand.

"I'm sorry about my friend!" she laughed shyly.

"Not sorry enough," I muttered under my breath.

"My name is Lucy! What are you three doing here?"

"We are here to take your souls!" Hekate smiled hauntingly as she used her Spatial Magic to retrieve my scythe. I draped the scythe over my shoulder.

"W-we are here to join Fairy Tail!" Safira quickly corrected, trying to shift attention from Hekate's response.

"Then you'll need to speak with our guild master, Master Makarov! He's… Somewhere…" Lucy looked around, trying to spot her guild master through piles of rubble and broken pieces of table.

"I'll ask my friend," she yelled, "NATSU!"

"On second thought, we'll find him ourselves." I didn't want to see Natsu. How does hair even get that spiky? Or pink for that matter… I then thought of how my hair was white and Safira's was sky blue.

Natsu flew once more, this time in Lucy's direction, his voice echoing the words Curse you, Gray!

"Get off, Natsu!" Lucy frantically tried to push Natsu off but he was pinned on top of her.

"Sorry!" He stood up, "What did you need me for?"

"Where is the guild master? These three want to join Fairy Tail," she explained.

Natsu stared at the three of us. He looked at Hekate's messy black hair, which reached down to her nose and covered both of her eyes, attempting to see her eyes. She keeps her hair that way because her eyes are gateways into the Nightmare Realm. If both gaze at the mortal realm then a portal that bridges this world and the Nightmare Realm spawns, unleashing her creations on the world. Hekate and I love the chaos but it puts a terrible amount of strain on her body, which is why she relies on her other senses. Natsu noticed Stitches, who was tied on Hekate's back.

"What's with the bear?" he asked.

"DON'T TOUCH MY BEAR!" Hekate clutched Stitches, who only had one black button for an eye.

"It's something special to her… Do not touch it." I glared at Natsu, who was somewhat frightened. No one can touch her stuffed bear. To think of the things that may happen if the bear is harmed would make one shudder. Natsu turned around to inspect Safira.

"Can I have that cat over there?" Safira pointed at the flying, blue cat.

"Errr… Happy isn't for sale," Natsu crossed his arms as Happy perched himself on top of his head.

"Aye!" Happy cheered. "Who are these three, Natsu?"

Before Natsu could say anything, Safira pushed him into the floor, stepped on his face, and captured the cat. I laughed a bit as she stood on top of Natsu, holding Happy.

"You're a cute kitty aren't you?" Safira rubbed her nose with Happy.

"Help me, Natsu!" Happy was scared. Luckily, Happy successfully escaped Safira after a few seconds of struggling.

"Okay… Well, these three don't look bad," Natsu said to Lucy.

"I know, but it's Makarov who recruits others!" Lucy shouted.

An extremely short, elderly man flew into Lucy's arms. I wondered why everything in Fairy Tail flies when Lucy stated that the man she was carrying was the guild master, Makarov Dreyar. He looked at us with black eyes as he stroked his thick, white mustache. He was growing bald, with only the outer rims of his head containing white hair. He wore a red vest with black pants and a high collared cape.

"Hello Lucy! Always nice to see you!" Makarov looked up at Lucy.

"Makarov, these three want to join Fairy Tail," Lucy pointed to us.

"Hmmmm…" The guild master inspected us, mimicking the way Natsu did a few seconds ago. Lucy carried him up to us, where he ran his fingers down the tip of Hekate's hat, which was like a witch's hat except the crown bends in various directions. My scarf attempted to wrap itself around Makarov when he touched it, but Makarov left in time. Hekate whispered to me that she'll take the guild master into her bag of souls. It looks like a regular, purple bag only it has a mouth and eyes and can suck the souls of those Hekate kills and trap them inside.

"Okay… Well, these three don't look bad," the guild master shrugged.

"That's what I said!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Please sir, we really want to join Fairy Tail! So, can we j-join Fairy Tail?" Safira begged, getting on her knees even though she still needed to look down on Makarov.

"Settle down," he laughed, "Of course you can join!"

I thought to myself how simple it was. I had previously created a plan that involved kidnapping one of the guild members, killing another guild member, blaming it on some fool, and then getting revenge on said fool.

"Wonderful!" Lucy laughed too.

"Nice to meet you three," Makarov saluted, "Let's go over to Mirajane, she is the head waitress! She will give you the Fairy Tail mark!"

Mirajane Strauss was a slim young woman of below average height with a voluptuous body and an ample chest. Her long hair was the same color as mine, getting slightly curly at the end. She had two bangs framing her face a long with a short, upward ponytail tied above her forehead. She wore a long, sleeveless maroon dress adorned by a large, pink bow, and similarly colored trimmings frame the neckline and circle around the waist. Mirajane also wore high-heeled shoes matching her dress, a small chain necklace with a blue oval gem, and a bracelet made of white flowers circling her wrists. She hid behind the counter to avoid shattered glass.

"Hello Makarov!" she smiled, "What can I do for you?"

"Hello, Mira-chan!" the guild master greeted. "These three want to join Fairy Tail! Would you mind getting the stamp?"

"Sure thing!" Mirajane took out a magic stamp tool, which looks like a normal stamp except it painlessly produced symbols on the body, and carefully dodged all projectiles.

"Put mines in the right cheek and hers in the left!" Hekate grabbed Safira as Mirajane stamped their Fairy Tail mark. Hekate's mark was a dark purple while Safira's mark was a light blue.

"Are you Mirajane Straws?" Safira was confused about her last name.

"It's Strauss," Mirajane laughed.

"Oh, Strauss…" The name was foreign to Safira, "Thank you Ms. Strauss!"

"And where do you want your mark?" Mirajane asked me where I wanted the mark.

"Do I really need one?"

Mirajane nodded.

"Ugh… Put it on my right palm I guess," I sighed as Mirajane placed the mark on my right palm. My mark was black.

"Congrats! You three are now part of Fairy Tail!" Makarov showed his approval with two thumbs up, "Hope you have fun!"

"Let's go introduce you guys!" Lucy marched forward as we followed her.

She showed us the one they call Gray Fullbuster, an ice-make mage who apparently dislikes wearing clothing. He has spiky black hair and dark blue eyes and wears black pants, a necklace resembling a sword with a stone in it, and a metal bracelet and similar chain attached to his pants. His Fairy Tail mark matches his eye color and is on his right pectoral. He has a cross-shaped scar on his lower abdomen for some reason. Next to Gray was Erza Scarlet, also known as Fairy Tail's Titania. As her last name implies, she is a young woman with long, scarlet hair and brown eyes. Like Mirajane, Erza has a slender figure and large breasts. She wore Heart Kreuz armor, a blue skirt, and black boots. I could barely make out her mark, which was sticking out of her armor on the middle of her upper left arm.

"Who'd you bring home this time, Lucy?" Gray joked.

"Do I normally bring home other people?" Lucy looked at Natsu.

"We have come from the realm of the dead! Prepare your souls for harvest!" Hekate giggled ominously.

"Nice people you brought home, Lucy," Erza genuinely remarked, noticing Hekate and Safira's guild mark. "New members?"

"Yeah, just thought I'd show them around!"

"Well, just follow the guild rules and we'll all have a good time," Erza smiled.

"Yeah! Erza will break your legs if you don't!" Natsu laughed annoyingly. I wanted to break off his legs.

"I am the one who breaks the legs!" Hekate argued. "You can break the arms!"

"Don't worry," Gray assured. "Erza's always like that. Hope you enjoy our guild!"

"Why don't you like shirts?" Safira tilted her head slightly to the right.

"Errr! It's not that!" he sounded embarrassed. "It has to do something that happened years ago."

As Safira stared at Gray, a tall, slim young woman came, drinking a barrel of alcohol along with a man who wore a dark, tattered cape. Lucy recognized them as Cana Alberona and Gildarts Clive, respectively. Cana had long, wavy, flowing brown hair, the same color as her eyes, almost reaching down to her waist, with two strands framing her face and reaching down below the shoulders, the left one starting from a prominent fringe. As with most Fairy Tail women, her body was voluptuous, her breasts large and her hips curvy. Her mark was on the lower left part of her abdomen. She donned a blue bikini top, black, calves-long pants held up by a tighter-fitting, pinkish purple belt adorned by red hearts, and short-heeled, dark sandals. She had three metal bracelets circling her left wrist, metal bracelets adorning her biceps, and a shoulder bag, with the plain brown strap passing over her left shoulder and diagonally crossing her chest, which is covered and completely obscured by a mass of very long and massive feathers, which are pinkish purple.

Gildarts was a tall and muscular man with shoulder-length reddish-orange hair, which is kept slicked back, and some stubble around his mouth and on his chin. His chest sports scars, two of which are stitched, and his black Fairy Tail stamp; the lower part of it is wrapped up in bandages, which also cross over his left shoulder, and his right forearm is bandaged too. Gildarts wore armored plates on the shoulders, held closed by a belt and usually covering his whole figure, and loose dark pants, complete with an armored waist-guard with plates similar to the ones on his shoulders, tucked inside simple boots.

"Who are these three Lucy?" Cana asked.

"Are they new members?" Gildarts stared at Hekate, who smiled ominously.

"Hex, Hekate, and Safira!" Lucy pointed to us, respectively.

"Nice to meet you guys!" Gildarts waved.

"This is Gildarts! He is the strongest in Fairy Tail!" Lucy boasted. "The whole city moves around so he won't destroy anything!"

"He won't destroy anything where he is going!" Hekate appeared behind an unsuspecting Gildarts.

"Heh," he laughed faintly. "So, Lucy, when are you going to take them on a mission?"

"You should go on one now! Show them how it's done!" Cana agreed. "It's a great start! Like how Natsu went on a mission with you when you first came."

"I was thinking of showing them to the guild first so—" Lucy was interrupted by Natsu.

"Not like the rest of the guild cares that we are here…" I added.

"Yeah, Lucy, that's boring! They'll meet them soon enough! I wanna see what they are capable of!"

"It's true, there are billions of people in Fairy Tail," Cana exaggerated.

"B-but a mission so soon?" Lucy expressed disapproval.

"It'll be fun! We can talk and learn more about ourselves!" Safira persuaded.

"Maybe that'll give me time to think of what to do on Gildarts," Hekate mumbled.

"Hell, why not? Let's just go on a mission," I agreed.

"See Lucy?! They are okay with it!" Natsu was eager to do a request.

"O-okay! Let's just go on a mission then," Lucy, pressured, was pushed by Natsu to the request board, which was beside the bar. She contemplated what mission to undertake, scanning for one that is simple and relatively safe. Lucy spotted a request that involved clearing a mine shaft of monsters that plagued it, so that the miners may return to work, but it was way up in Mt. Hakobe, a fact that Lucy did not like. Safira, Hekate and I felt disappointed and belittled.

"Remember that Vulcan from a long time ago, Lucy?" Natsu reminded Lucy, who shuddered. Vulcans are large, anthropomorphic monsters that have a distinctive facial appearance with large eyes, large arms and a muscular torso. They have pointed heads, massive chins, and point ears. The ones on the mountains have white fur with a hole-like pattern on their arms. They also have big, long tails and are sometimes seen smiling.

"Please don't." she seemed repulsed. "Let's set out."

Happy reluctantly went with us, Lucy explaining to us that Natsu knew Happy since he was born, keeping watch of Safira as we made it to a mountainous area with a characteristic alpine climate. It snowed perpetually, a blizzard winding across the area, so Lucy used Celestial Spirit Magic to summon Horologium. Horologium was a tall brown grandfather clock with long, black arms, a glass case, a Roman-numeral clock at the center and a small face at the top with slit eyes and a thin, swirly, mustache-like mouth. Lucy hid inside Horologium's glass case, preferring not to endure the cold. I was annoyed by the way Horologium repeats what Lucy says.

"This is just like the first time we came here, only it was with you and the Vulcan!" Happy teased Lucy.

"Don't remind me!" Lucy shivered.

Halfway to our destination Lucy decided to break the ice and have a short conversation with us. She walked slowly as she asked us about our origins, where we were from and what brought us here.

"So, where you guys from?" Lucy asked. "Sorry, this guild is kinda crazy. We didn't get much time to introduce ourselves."

"I come from a cave!" Safira declared proudly.

"A cave?!" Natsu yelled in disbelief. "How could you live in a cave?"

"I lived with Esmeralda! She's a crystal dragon!" Safira explained.

"You're a Dragon Slayer too?!" Natsu jumped. "That would make seven Dragon Slayers in Fairy Tail!"

"Yeah!" Safira smiled. "Esmeralda took me in and taught me about crystals and stuff!"

"Igneel took me in," Natsu he pumped his fist in the air. "He was like a father to me."

"Too bad Esmeralda left," Safira lamented.

"Our dragons left too! Metalicana, Grandeeney, and Igneel are all gone. Skiadrum and Weisslogia were killed by their children," he uttered the last sentence angrily.

Safira gasped. "That's terrible! Why would they kill them? Dragons are really nice."

"I hope you get to see Igneel again," Safira patted Natsu on the back.

"Yeah! I hope you get to see Esmeralda again!"

"I come from a place where happy things happen!" Hekate referred to the Nightmare Realm. "I'll take you all there one day and we'll have a great time!"

"I'll keep that in mind," Lucy shuddered. "Where do you come from Hex?"

"It doesn't matter anymore… Those memories have been buried…" _Just as I have been, _I thought.

"Okay… And why did you guys want to join Fairy Tail?" Lucy continued.

"We love Fairy Tail and have heard so much about it!" Safira smiled. She whispered into Lucy's ears, hinting at Natsu, "And between you and me, I think some of the guild members are kinda cute!"

We continued through the mountains until we reached an abandoned mine shaft, located halfway around the mountain, whose wooden beams were at the point of breaking. We stared into the darkness of the mine, Lucy having second thoughts about entering.

"You guy's ready?" Natsu led, ready for whatever came at him. Horologium reached his limit and returned to the spirit world.

"I hope there are some human bodies!" Hekate wanted to add more creations to her realm.

"Let's just get this over with," I grabbed my scythe.

The mine was dark on the inside, and damp, with minerals and ice and stone lining the walls of the cavern. There were a few light bulbs, some of them broken, at the roof of the cave that lit a pathway straight into the center of the mountain, where most of the activity took place. There were also wooden rails and abandoned carts full of ores. One of them was empty, with enough space for Lucy and Safira to ride in.

"Aren't you cold, Safira?" Lucy looked at Safira's lack of coverage. Safira merely wore a plain, white, dirt-stained shirt and light blue shorts, exposing most of her body.

"Not really," Safira replied bluntly. "I only wear this one outfit. I'm used to it."

"That's all you have?! We need to get you some clothes!" Lucy was shocked.

"That's not really necessary," Safira shook her head. "But thank you!"

"Hex…" Natsu murmured. "Isn't that like a spell or something?"

"Or a curse…" I corrected.

"Where did you get those scars on your face?" He noticed the scars on both sides of my cheeks—a Glasgow grin. I stared at him, hoping that my gaze might somehow cause him to die.

"I'd rather not talk about it," I touched the area of my scar. _At least those guys are dead, _I remembered _those painted faces_.

Progressing into the center of the mines, we notice a sleeping wyvern. A giant, scaly creature, the wyvern had dragon-like features with large wings attached to their arms, a scaly torso and tail. They have sharp teeth, claws and feet as well as spikes on the top of their heads that trail down to their backs. Lucy took out her keys, though she was rather frightened, and Natsu ready to do his Fire Dragon Roar.

Before they were able to do anything, I slashed one of its wings with my scythe and gathered some of its blood. The wyvern woke up, but it was too late, for Safira had used her Crystal Dragon Slayer magic to encase most of the wyvern's body in crystals. The wyvern roared, breaking free from its casing. Hekate joined the fray and used her Spatial Magic to create portals that blasted one of the wyvern's arms into another dimension. I cast a spell on the wyvern that poisoned its blood. The wyvern lifted one of its claws, slashing at Safira. Safira, however, used her Scales of the Crystal Dragon ability to deflect most of the attack, barely damaging herself. The wyvern aimed its attack next at Hekate, which was a mistake, Hekate managing to blow off its other arm. Unable to use its claw, the wyvern tried to bite us, to no avail. We watched the wyvern's movement slow as it slowly died from my Blood Magic spell. Its movement slowed and I was able to finish it off by decapitating it.

"That's it?" I frowned, obviously disappointed at the task's simplicity. "Now what?"

"Pick me, pick me!" Hekate raised her hand frantically. "Now we do the same thing to! Ummm… What was his name again?"

"You guys handled that real fast," Lucy was dumbfounded.

"Gildarts! Yes! Him!" Hekate blurted.

"We had lives before Fairy Tail…. Terrible lives…" I remembered the time when I was buried alive, years ago.

"Don't be fooled," Safira warned. "We are strong. Even stronger than you think."

"We should fight one day!" Natsu was excited. I drew my scythe but Hekate insisted I didn't do anything yet.

"Maybe later," Lucy insisted. "Let's get back to the guild."

We returned an hour later to the guild, the guild master surprised at how quickly we completed our task of clearing the wyvern. We rested near the bar area. We were rewarded with 50,000 Jewel, but I decided that Lucy and Natsu should keep it, for we had no need for it.

"You sure you don't want the money?" Lucy felt bad. "You guys did all the work."

"Keep it," I shook my head. "We don't need it"

"No Hex, wait!" Safira suggested. "Can I rent Happy for a few days?"

"We should get you an Exceed," Natsu explained that an Exceed was a creature, like Happy, that looked like a cat and could sprout wings. There are four other Exceeds in the guild: Carla, Pantherlily, Frosch, and Lector, which belong to Wendy Marvell, Gajeel Redfox, Rogue Cheney, and Sting Eucliffe, respectively. Apparently, it's a Dragon Slayer tradition, even though Laxus Dreyar doesn't have an Exceed. _Laxus_, I thought, _is that a type of diarrhea medicine?_

"Where do I find one?" Safira longed to have a cat-like Happy.

"It'll come to you, one day!" Natsu said, followed by Happy yelling out, _Aye!_

"Oh, just keep the money then…" Safira frowned.

"It's okay! At least today wasn't too bad of a day!" Lucy smiled. "At least, for your first day of Fairy Tail, it wasn't!"

"Yeah, thank you Lucy! We enjoyed our first day!" Safira grinned.

"Well, welcome to Fairy Tail then!" Lucy exchanged a high-five with Safira.


	2. Waste of Time

As the day continued, Lucy introduced us to the rest of the guild members. Safira gasped, shocked by the varied personalities of the Fairies. I was rather bored, feeling like some sort of new doll that a young child had bought and is showing off to her friends. I disliked most of the guild members, especially Juvia, who speaks in third person point of view. I couldn't count the amount of times she said "Juvia" in her conversations. We also met the Dragon Slayers: Laxus the diarrhea medicine; Wendy, a younger version of Safira; Gajeel, a slightly less annoying Natsu; Sting, the ugly duckling; and Rogue, my reflection in a shattered mirror.

After a few tortuous hours of Lucy dragging us across the guild the day was over. I began to think that perhaps I should get rid of Lucy before getting rid of Natsu. I wished to gouge my eyes before having to look at her face again. Safira enjoyed herself too much in Fairy Tail, despite the circumstances. At least infiltration was a success.

At about nighttime, we retreated to the forest, where Safira would sleep atop her favorite tree. We lit a bonfire and centered on it, roasting marshmallows that we had bought as we spoke of what had happened today. I don't know why I was roasting marshmallows; I had no need for food and didn't care much for those sticky white pillows. I just gave mine to Safira when it was a crisp, caramel-brown.

"Today was a great day!" Safira rejoiced. "I love Fairy Tail so much!"

"You idiot. We're here to infiltrate and destroy!" I pointed to my scarf, reminding her why we were here. "Stop saying you love Fairy Tail."

"Well… Yeah. B-but…" Safira scratched her head, thinking of what to say. "Do we really need to destroy Fairy Tail?"

"We need that Soul Fragment," I explained as I drew puzzle pieces in the dirt with a stick. "All the pieces must go together or else the puzzle will be incomplete."

"But we still have no idea where the other parts are… We only have one." Safira frowned. "Fairy Tail isn't bad. We can just fight the Black Sun for the Soul Fragment rather than fight Fairy Tail…"

"Aveline's Hive Mind along with Eien's necromancy, and the Seven Sin Demons," I reminded her. "Do we really stand a chance?"

"You're right, we have a better chance at defeating Fairy Tail," Safira sulked. "I'm with you, Hex…"

"I'm always with you, Hex!" Hekate appeared from behind me and hugged me. "I'd love to see _her _again!"

"Then it's settled," I declared, "tomorrow, we make preparations. We'll contact the family for help."

"Yeah…" Safira yawned. "Tomorrow."

I stared at the starry skies with Hekate as Safira fell asleep atop a tree, wondering what to do once I attain all the Soul Fragments. _It's true, we only have one fragment. We need to find all the Soul Fragments and even when we do, how do we put them together? It isn't exactly like a puzzle, as I had described it._ I shook my head and dismissed these thoughts.

Once the sun began to rise the next day, I travelled to a nearby river, gathered some cold water in my hands, and splashed it on Safira, whose endless snoring was tiring me. Startled, she woke up and frantically breathed crystals in four different directions.

"Who's there?!" she cried out.

"I told you I'll have the nuts by Monday, Jack!" Safira yelled, though to no one in particular. She spotted a single squirrel and then proceeded to chase it across the forest. I followed her through the forest, jumping across tree branches, and place the blunt part of my scythe around her neck. She crashed into it and fell.

"Sorry Hex!" she bowed apologetically. "There is this squirrel… His name is Jack. And I kind of owe him some nuts!"She explained that she had made a wager with Jack and betted some nuts, but that was around the time that I stopped caring and dragged her back to our campsite. Hekate was there, staring at a brightly-colored pile of flying fish she had netted.

"You got those?" I picked up one of those little blighters. "I heard they taste terrible."

"That's why I got them! To see her choke on them!" Hekate stared at Safira, smiling, and pretended to choke herself.

"But I'm not that hungry!" Safira picked up a fish and tossed it away after smelling it. When Safira wasn't looking, Hekate sneaked up behind her and jammed a fish in her mouth and covered her mouth so that she would chew. Much to Hekate's dismay, Safira smiled. She enjoyed the taste of flying fish and savored every nibble. She then dove into the pile of flying fish and devoured them, not leaving even bone.

"Not what you were expecting, eh, Hekate?" I laughed faintly.

"One day, I shall find something that shall kill her stomach!" Hekate vowed as she grabbed a couple of rocks from the ground.

"Good luck! Esmeralda taught me to eat rocks too!" Safira boasted as she chewed on rocks as if they were ice cubes.

"You done eating then?" I watched her as she continued to eat rocks.

"Just give me a few more minutes." Safira licked her lips. "I'm a bit thirsty.

Safira vigorously drank from a nearby river as if she would drink all of the water in it. She ingested gallons of water with her powerful, suction. I wondered why she didn't go to the bathroom as often as she should. There was a turtle floating in the river, which she reached to grab.

"No." I grabbed her arm.

"B-but Hex! Look at the turtle!"

"Shut up and let's go." We continued to town. Safira stuck out her tongue at me halfway there, so I pulled it.

"Hex, you got my tongue!" I was barely able to make out those words.

"Don't stick it out again." I rolled it back into her mouth.

"Aw, I could have used that tongue." Hekate frowned. "I need more tongues!"

We reached the guild, though not without suffering through Safira's annoyances, and noticed that a couple of guild members were packing their bags with umbrellas and towels and beachwear. Namely, I noticed Lucy holding two swim suits, unable to decide between the colors pink and blue.

"Oh hello!" Lucy waved. "Yeah, we're going to the beach today!"

"Why? What's the occasion?" I asked, very confused. They never said anything about going to the beach.

"Nothing really… Just relaxing after the Grand Magic Games!" Lucy explained. _Oh yeah, that did happen, didn't it?_ I believed they won that competition this year. "You guys can come along, if you want!"

"I guess that would be a good way to study them," I mumbled.

"I know where I'm going to put the crabs!" Hekate pretended she was a crab. She raised her hands like claws above her head and crouched down. "Shhhh! Don't tell them anything!"

"Let's go to beach!" Safira sang.

We walked to the beach with Lucy, Natsu, Erza, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel, Levy, Cana, and Wendy, along with the respective Exceeds. They lined up at the restrooms there to change clothes, though they were packed and it took a lot of time to get in.

"C'mon already!" Natsu complained, tapping his feet against the ground impatiently. I was not changing and I assumed Hekate wasn't either. We waited there for the others from Fairy Tail to change.

"I can't take the waiting!" Gray began to walk in circles.

"Gray, you're already in shorts and you're shirtless. Just get in the water." Erza pointed out.

"I don't want to get these ones wet! What about you?! You can just Requip! Why are you here?"

"I'm waiting for the rest of you guys to finish." Erza said to Gray before she changed into a swimsuit with her Requip Magic.

Meanwhile, Cana was shaking violently—a booze-starved zombie. She collapsed as she begged for an alcoholic beverage, which was illegal to possess in the beach.

"Cana, are you okay?" Lucy asked a trembling Cana.

"No beer allowed on the beach!" Cana cried out. "I have needs!"

"Maybe you should drink something else." Lucy recommended water.

"No!" Cana yelled abruptly as she shook Lucy. "No substitution!"

The first ones to change were the blue-haired Wendy and Levy. Wendy shuddered and held Levy's hand as they entered the bathroom, completely dwarfed by the more robust women that were packed inside.

"Don't get lost in there, kid!" shouted Gajeel.

The next three that changed were Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray. Juvia morphed into her aqueous form and surreptitiously followed Gray into the stalls.

"Yes! Go on, Gray-sama! For Juvia!" I heard Juvia mumble.

"JUVIA? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Gray's voice echoed, shocked to see the water maiden staring at him. I heard the sound of a toilet flushing and saw Juvia a couple of minutes later with a bit of sewage dangling from her hat. Juvia changed into her swimwear, checking for sewage in any other parts of her body.

Cana and Lucy squeezed their way in through the bathroom and into the stalls to change. However, the door to the stall was apparently stuck and Lucy did not want to go under it.

"Cana! I think the door's stuck!" Lucy tried forcing the door open.

"Just go under it!" Cana suggested.

"But there's urine on the floor!" Lucy exclaimed.

"WHAT?" Cana jumped. "Why is there urine on the floor?"

"I don't know!" Lucy yelled. "There shouldn't be any if we just sit down!"

Lucy managed to escape by climbing the stall.

"What has happened to respectable woman these days?" Erza looked away in disgust.

Once everyone was out of the bathrooms and changed into their swimwear—with the exception of me, Hekate, and Safira—we entered the beach.

The sky was a bit cloudy but nonetheless the sun penetrated and warmed the glistening, white beach. Luckily, since there weren't a lot of people in the guild's favorite spot, they set up their towels beneath a bridge so the seagulls wouldn't lay droppings on their things and so the sun wouldn't burn them. Cana laid her towel in the sun to sunbathe, taking out a bottle of tanning lotion from her bag.

"Lucy can you rub some of this on my back?" Cana tossed Lucy the lotion.

"Well… Um… Okay!" Lucy squeezed a couple of drops of lotion onto Cana's skin and then she smoothly rubbed it all over her back.

"I'm getting into the water first!" Natsu dashed into the water, pushing Lucy atop Cana.

Gray looked aroused, until he was hit on the back of the head by Erza."It's not what you think!" Gray jumped.

"Stop looking at them like that and get in the water with me Gray!" Erza dragged Gray into the water, followed by Juvia.

"Gray-sama belongs to Juvia!" Juvia wrapped herself around Gray.

"Aye! Better luck next time Gray!" Happy consoled Gray. Happy, Carla, and Pantherlily built sand castles, preferring not to get wet. Happy quickly built a large sandcastle big enough that the three Exceeds could fit in.

"Come in with me, Queen Carla!" Happy pointed forward to the castle. "Take my hand!"

"I'll just come in." She stepped on his face, burying it in the sand, and went inside the castle, followed by Pantherlily. Wendy decided to play sandcastles too, but tripped on the way and fell into Happy's castle, taking in a mouthful of sand. Pantherlily and Happy were startled at her entrance. Carla smiled faintly.

"Sorry! Want to build another sand castle?" Wendy suggested.

"Oh, Wendy…" She shook her head.

"How about we bury Lucy?" Happy made a hole in the sand. "Pantherlily, go find her!"

"I'll just sit down." Pantherlily went to sit down but instead fell in the hole.

Safira decided to go join the fun and began to take off her shirt, revealing most of her naked body. Lucy, who was sitting by the shore, took notice of Safira.

"SAFIRA!" Lucy covered her eyes. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going inside the water. You should go in too Lucy!" Safira smiled.

Safira normally took off her clothes when swimming, which might bring about social awkwardness in various situations. It's not her fault; it's just the way she was taught by Esmeralda.

"We don't go around at the beach naked! Besides, there are children here!" Lucy pointed at Wendy.

"Oh, sorry little girl!" Safira patted Wendy's head, possibly scarring her.

"It's okay, we're all girls," Wendy said even though she looked away.

"Put on a bathing suit or just go in with your regular clothes!" Lucy suggested.

"Fine," Safira moaned as she put her clothes on. "Swimming with clothes on… Pfft…"

"Great," Lucy humorously mumbled. "A female Gray."

I looked around, situated in the same area beneath the bridge for quite some time, noticing Hekate's disappearance. I spotted her, sneaking behind Gajeel, who carried Levy on his shoulders, holding a handful of crabs. Hekate held her laughter and threw the crabs at Gajeel, disappearing seconds later. The bright red spider-like creatures attached themselves to Gajeel, snipping at his skin and long, spiky black hair. He yelled and tumbled to the sand, causing Levy to fall back.

"WHO DID THIS?" Gajeel turned around, seeing no one. Levy laughed as she plucked the crabs from his back and hair.

"I bet it was Natsu!" Gajeel glared at Natsu, who was swimming a couple of meters away.

"Natsu is all the way over there!" Levy pointed at Natsu. "Acupuncture is good anyway!"

"Let's just get in the water." Gajeel crouched down so that Levy may ride on his back. "I'll beat up Natsu later."

"Look at that shell!" Levy pointed to a gleaming conch in the sand. "Doesn't it look pretty?"

"Yeah, yeah," Gajeel uninterestingly responded.

In the waters, Natsu and Gray were having a swimming competition, with Juvia on top of Gray and Safira and Erza in the middle. Natsu fought with Gray a few seconds later over who won their competition.

"Admit it Gray! I won!" Natsu argued.

"No I did!" Gray countered.

"No, I did!" Safira raised her hand.

"No! I did!" Erza jumped out of the water gracefully like a mermaid.

"We aren't counting you two!" Gray exclaimed.

At around this time was when I noticed that Safira had not heeded what Lucy had said and was not wearing clothing. Natsu and Gray did not point it out though, as if they didn't notice or care. Minutes later, they noticed when her clothing crashed onto the shores. Safira stared at Natsu and Gray's shocked faces. Erza, however, was more casual about her nudity.

"You three aren't children!" Safira turned her head slightly. "Lucy said it was okay if children aren't watching!"

"Being naked is not something we do!" Gray covered his eyes, prying through his fingers.

"There really is nothing wrong with it though." Erza nodded her head approvingly.

"Y-Yes there is!" Gray exclaimed..

"B-but Gray! You are naked! Right?" Safira dove underwater. "I-I thought you were!"

"Gray-sama should get naked for Juvia!" I heard Juvia's voice, remembering that she was still there.

"No!" Gray shook his head. Juvia snuck beneath the water and then resurfaced, holding a part of swimming shorts that appeared to be Gray's.

"Juvia got Gray-sama's shorts!" Juvia laughed victoriously as she threw the shorts onto the shore.

"Juvia!"Gray yelled. Juvia peeked underwater at Gray.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia blushed. Gray covered himself with his arms.

"No big deal, being naked here." Safira had a poker face.

"Don't do anything with Gray-sama!" Juvia stood in front of Gray, holding her arms out in jealousy.

Two hours of staring had passed and I had concluded nothing about any of the guild members. I decided that I needed to get involved in their activities—actually get in the water and communicate with them. I wasn't going in with my regular clothing, so I had to go to a local store to buy swimming shorts. I was about to go to the store when I was tripped. The shadow of someone that seemed familiar loomed over me. I recognized him by his black, spiky hair and Gray, clouded eyes; he was the Black Sun's Sin I. Ster.

Sin, as he was called, bore his guild mark, a symbol of a black sun, beneath his right eye, just above his cheek. He wore a white sports jacket with the black sun symbol on the right sleeve, navy pants, and black shoes.

"What are you doing?" He stared at me with a bored look on his face.

"Just enjoying a day at the beach," I retorted sarcastically.

"Get back to work." He took a few sips from a container filled with soda. "You know how Aveline gets."

"I am working!" I complained. "These idiots just decided to go to the beach today!"

"Whatever it is you're doing, it's not working." He stared at a naked Safira in the distance. I had no idea what she was doing; she wasn't working, though that was typical.

"What do you want me to do? Get in the water? I hate the beach."

"I don't care. Get in and do your job or we won't reward you." He finished drinking the soda and threw the container on the sand, walking away shortly afterward.

I had no Jewel to buy anything but luckily Hekate teleported in front of me after Sin left.

"Hekate, can you go steal some swimming shorts for me?" I asked.

"I shall get some for me too and be known as the Seaweed Queen!" She stuck out her tongue and then disappeared.

She came back, wearing a black swimsuit with a skull pattern and holding pink shorts with a heart pattern. She also had, atop her head instead of her hat, a turtle.

"No, bring me something else." I threw the shorts at Hekate.

"You'll look cute in them, Hex!" She snickered.

"Hekate, start getting serious," I flashed my demonic eyes, "Sin came to check up on us."

"Who? Oh… Sin! Yes, Sin! Oh no, it's Sin! Let's fly on a buffalo!" Hekate teleported away, bring back black swimming shorts with a skull pattern.

She handed me the clothes and I changed into them in the bathroom. Once done, I saw Hekate in the bathroom, sitting atop one of the stalls.

"Hekate, this restroom is not for your gender," I scolded her. "What are you doing here?"

"Shut up, Hex!" Hekate laughed as she transported my clothing, with the exception of the scarf, and scythe safely into the Nightmare Realm. I couldn't leave my scarf, not while a fragment of the shattered soul is infused to it.

I crossed my arms, unaccustomed to wearing beach clothing, and slowly stepped into the water, as if it would kill me. Hekate followed, grabbing bits of seaweed that floated in the ocean, fashioning it into a crown and placing it on her head, calling herself the "Seaweed Queen".I approached Natsu, desiring to learn what pains him the most so that I may kill him with it. He reached out to return Gray's shorts but Juvia took them once again and swam away.

"Juvia!" Gray cried out. "I need those!"

"No you don't," Safira said nonchalantly. "Nakedness!"

"Safira," I whispered into her ear, "stop being an idiot and get to work. Sin came by to check on us."

"Sin?!" She appeared frightened and began a nail biting session. "We got to get busy then!"

"Hey Hex!" Natsu waved, alerted by Safira's rather loud whisper. He was like some giant insect that I wanted to crush.

"You brought your scarf into the water too?" Natsu buzzed, holding up his own scarf.

"Yeah, I don't take mines off." I stared in a different direction.

"Me neither." He explained, "This scarf was given to me by Igneel. I have never taken it off."

I remembered him mentioning Igneel when we rushed through our first pointless mission. He had mentioned that the fire dragon was like a father to him. _Perhaps I could rip his scarf in front of his eyes, _I evilly contemplated.

"Guys!"Gray exclaimed. "I feel something biting my foot!"

I saw no sign of Hekate; I checked in the water, spotting her biting Gray's left foot.

"Watch out! The Seaweed Queen's gonna get ya!" She laughed, slowly rising from the water. Then, as usual, she disappeared.

"Sorry," Safira stepped in and apologized. "Hekate is rather erratic."

"EROTIC?" Juvia suddenly appeared next to Gray. "No one can touch my Gray-sama!"

"What do you even do?" I stared at Juvia.

"Juvia is a water mage," she explained, "Juvia used to be an S-class mage of the guild Phantom Lord, along with Gajeel-kun."

"I just wanted to know what you do, not your life's story." I sighed.

"Isn't that what we want to know?" Safira blurted.

"You have a squirrel brain." I placed my hand flat across my face.

"There is a squirrel in my head?" Safira knocked on her head.

"Why can't lightning just strike me down now?" I sighed and gazed at the cloudless sky.

"I'm just kidding, Hex! Do you think I'm that stupid?" She patted me on the back. I stared at her with a blank expression.

Gajeel and Levy swam to where we were to join in the conversation. For some reason, Gajeel believed that Natsu had assaulted him with crabs when it was Hekate that attacked him. Levy stood next to Gajeel—a frail little fairy next to a colossus. Her head was tilted so that her face wouldn't be covered with water. I began to think about the scarcity of normal hair colors in Fairy Tail. Levy, Safira, Wendy, and Juvia had blue hair though I didn't know why.

"Hey Natsu!" Gajeel pointed to various cuts on his back. "Why'd you throw crabs at me?"

"Crabs? I didn't do anything!" Natsu defended.

"It was Hekate," I explained. "She's rather mischievous, and with her abilities you guys will need to grow eyes in the back of your heads."

"Hekate? Oh right, she's the weird one from your group right? The one with the bear?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah, that's her." I looked around. "She's… somewhere…"

Hekate popped out of the water a few minutes later, holding a medium-sized red squid and squirting its ink at everyone.

"Bow down to the tentacle!" Hekate raised the squid in the air and then threw it at Gray's face. She climbed onto Gajeel's shoulders and stood proudly.

"I am the Seaweed Queen! Bow down before me!" She spread her arms out, lost her balance, and then submerged into the deep blue.

Then, like a dolphin, Hekate jumped out of the water and bit Gajeel's ear. She then licked his ear and laughed, whispering something to Gajeel that apparently only I heard, "I know what you did last night."

"I'll keep that in mind." Gajeel patted Hekate on the head. Hekate made a whirring noise reminiscent to the sound of a saw before disappearing once more.

"Why is Hekate like that?" Gray asked, though I stirred the conversation since the guild probably wouldn't take too kindly to hearing about her human experimentation.

"Why do you have the habit of not wearing a shirt?"

"It's because of my old teacher, Ur. She got me into this weird habit!" Gray explained.

"Is this Ur person still alive?"

"No… She gave her life to defeat Deliora."

_Hmmmmm, _I thought, _perhaps necromancy may be useful here._

"Anyone else hungry?" Natsu randomly asked, his stomach grumbling and growling.

"How long has it been?" Erza looked around. "And where's Lucy?"

"Let's go find her, I didn't bring any Jewel." Gray jumped. "Oh right! My shorts!"

"Pfft… Baby…" Safira scoffed as she walked to the shore, naked.

"Are you the only sane one?" Gajeel looked at me.

"Pretty much…"

We returned to shore, some of the guild members circling Gray so as to not reveal his genitalia. We found Gray's shorts, tossed on the sand and guarded by a crab. Gray poked it with a stick and grabbed his shorts. At the moment, the guild prioritized the locating of Lucy so that they may leech off her and buy food.

"Lucy! Where are you?!" Erza called out.

"I'm here!" I heard the muffled cries of Lucy. No one else heard her.

"LUCY, WE'RE HUNGRY!" Natsu rubbed him stomach.

"So I have to buy the food?!" I noticed the Exceeds were around a plastic red bucket. I walked over to them, hearing Lucy's voice louder and louder.

"Don't go in there!" Happy held his laughter.

I removed the bucket and saw Lucy's face, her body almost completely buried in the sand. Her hands barely stuck out from the side of her face.

"Help me!" Lucy pleaded. The guild members swarmed around Lucy and helped her out.

"Lucy! We are—" Natsu exclaimed until Lucy interrupted.

"Hungry, I know! I have some Jewel, so maybe we can eat hotdogs and pizza!" Lucy took out her bag filled with Jewel.

"Who goes to get it?" Gray asked. Everyone look at each other.

"How about the new guy?" Gajeel suggested.

"Sounds about right," Erza agreed.

"Yup," Gray nodded as Juvia swooned over him.

"Me!" I asked as everyone pointed to me.

"Here's the Jewel!" Lucy handed me her bag. "Make sure to bring enough!"

I grumbled and complained to myself, though I was glad to get out of there. I located a bar close to the beach that sold food and drinks. The roof was made of palm leaves and let a bit of sunshine in while allowing the area to be cool. There was a blender where the bartender made various non-alcoholic drinks and a rotisserie with over seasoned chicken and pork on it.

"Excuse me," I called the brunette behind the counter. "Do you have pizza and hotdogs?"

"Yeah! How many do you need?" She took out some tongs.

"A dozen of each… probably…"

She placed twelve hotdogs and pizza slices in a large box. She handed it to me, almost losing equilibrium, and then took out twelve cups.

"And to drink?" she asked.

"Just give them water." I mumbled to myself, "And poison."

"That all?" She smiled. I nodded as I emptied Lucy's bag of Jewel on the counter. She filled the plastic cups with water. I delicately balanced the cups on top of the box of food.

"Okay, thank you! Have a nice day!" She waved. I thought the day was terrible though.

I walked back to the beach where I was attacked by the starved Dragon Slayers: Natsu and Safira. They pushed me to the sand and eagerly raced back to the rest of the guild with the box, not spilling the water in the cups by some miracle. Hekate appeared before me and helped me up.

"You got food," she said in a deep, starved voice.

"You don't need food!" I retorted.

"You racist!" Hekate pushed me to the ground. "Fireflies are real I tell you!"

I got up and ignored everyone for the rest of the day.

I watched as Safira and the Fairies, guzzled down the food like a pack of wolves—Safira and Natsu fighting for the dominant role as alpha male/female. They howled when they finished. Cana approached the group a few minutes afterward, her skin a light shade of red. In her arms, she held a single volleyball.

"Anyone up for volleyball?" Cana tossed the ball to Lucy.

"Aren't you too burnt for that Cana?" Lucy pointed at her sunburn.

"Nah, I'm okay!" Cana tapped her skin, showing no sign of discomfort from the pain. "So, who's up for it?"

"I'll pass." I walked away, the only one not to play. I merely watched their stupid game, which turned heated once magic was involved and fingers were pointed.

"Natsu, you cheater!" Gajeel accused Natsu of using Fire Magic.

"Me?! You're the one with the extending iron arms!"

"I accuse Gray!" Erza pointed at the Ice-make mage. "I saw him using magic to prevent the ball from hitting the ground!"

"I accuse," Safira said as she scratched her chin, "Wendy!"

"I didn't do anything!" Wendy replied sheepishly. Throughout the game, she didn't do much except watch and hope that the ball did not hit her.

"I saw you using some winds in there to blow the ball away!" Safira glared at Wendy, one of her eyes seemingly twice as large as the other.

"Juvia accuses herself!" Juvia crawled on the floor, her body angled so that she could wave a certain part of her body high in the air. "Gray-sama should punish Juvia!"

"I accuse the Ocean!" Hekate cackled. "Curse you, Ocean!"

After a friendly game of accusation, the Fairies gazed in awe at the orange light cast upon the ocean by a setting sun. I sighed, relieved that the day was almost over, but quickly regained the stress after realizing that I still didn't have much information.

"What a nice day!" Lucy cheered. "A nice break after those brutal days in the Magic Games!"

"Don't get too comfortable Lucy!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly. "We should go on another mission tomorrow!"

"I'll also check the request board to see what's good," Erza said as she grabbed Gray's shoulder. "And Gray, you'll come with me."

"Juvia will go with Gray-sama!" Juvia placed both her hands on Gray's shoulders.

"Maybe we should all go on a mission," Cana suggested.

"Speaking of missions," I whispered into Safira's ear. "Remember ours."

Deciding to go on a mission tomorrow, the Fairy Tail members returned home to rest. We changed back into our usual attire, packed our bags, and walked back to the guild. Tired and eager to go on missions, some of them went to sleep. Before departing to her apartment, Lucy said a few things to us.

"Enjoyed the day at the beach?" Lucy asked.

"We sure did! Thanks!" Safira raised her fist in the air.

"See you tomorrow Lucy!" Safira waved her hand as Lucy was leaving.

"Goodnight guys! Be prepared for missions!" Her voice echoed as she disappeared in the distance.

Returning back to our encampment at the forest, I mandated Hekate and Safira to do something. Safira looked at me confusingly and Hekate just kept laughing.

"I need you two to get serious," I scolded them. "I got hardly any information. The level of competence is low."

"You're saying we aren't doing a good job?" Safira stared blankly at me.

"You aren't even doing a job. So, we need to get help. The family's help."

"Is it time?!" Hekate impatiently jumped up and down.

"Yes, Hekate, open the Nightmare Realm."

"Rose, Timmy, Mom, Dad," Hekate grinned. "We are coming!"

With that said, Hekate opened a portal to the Nightmare Realm, where we would soon reconcile with her "family" and get their help in our ultimate goal: Fairy Tail's demise.


	3. Enter Nightmare

_We should've gone to the Nightmare Realm beforehand! _I thought. Finally, I didn't have to waste another second doing any tedious work. I was about to step in the portal, but Hekate blocked the way, stating that I needed the "password" to go through.

"C'mon, Hekate." I tried to get passed her. "Just let me through."

"What's the password?" she whispered into my ear.

"Turtles," I replied.

The Nightmare Realm—a place where the tortured cries of souls is tantamount to the sounds of the calliope, once thought to be just a world painted by the mind, was before us. The Nightmare Realm was a single island, floating at the center of the abyss, a gaping darkness engulfing it. In front of us stood a black archway, reminiscent of the maw of a dragon, with the word _Entrance_ carved into it on the side.

Out of the darkness came one creature—the result of an experiment with a ten-year-old girl. She had long, purple hair, like she had in her youth, but the rest of her body was horribly disfigured. She had tentacle-like appendages growing from her back. Two large arms growing from both sides of her torso made her look like a spider and she lacked a lower jaw because it was ripped out. She had no eyes on her face. She wore a purple shirt that was torn at the sides where her four large arms grew and bore a cartoon skull. Hekate called her Rose.

"It's been a while," Rose spoke. "I almost thought you forgot about me."

"It's only been a week," I informed.

"A week here is a thousand days," Rose exaggerated.

"I'd never forget about you, Rose!" Hekate skipped over to Rose similar to a bunny, and attacked her in a hug.

"Rose, I need the family's help," Hekate explained. "We're in Fairy Tail."

"Infiltration was a success?"

"Yes, bunch of idiots they are." Hekate started jumping around like a frog.

"Mostly we are here due to a lack of competence." I pointed at Hekate. "Also, I'm not going to do anything. Can you call the others?"

"Mom! Dad! Timmy!" Rose called out, her voice echoing like screeching crows. "Hekate is here!"

More creatures emerged from the darkness. The first one to come out was Dad, who was Rose's father before being experimented on. His eyes were ripped out and replaced with buttons and had multiple faces stitches over his body. One was at the back of his head and four more were at his back. His mouth was cut open from both sides down, making it look as though he was always frowning, sagging all the way down to his chin. He had long, flimsy arms, the right one of them being a mechanical claw that Hekate attached. On his torso, Dad had a large mouth with many rows of teeth. He also had four legs. Dad wore a gray vest with a long, checkered red tie that extended beyond the vest and almost to the floor and black, baggy pants that covered all his legs.

Mom followed—an insect-like creature with half of the body of a woman and the abdomen of a spider. She had a whip-like tail that reminded me of a scorpion and four human hands for legs. Her right eye was stitched shut and the left was replaced with a bionic eye that ominously glowed red. Her right arm was human, despite having needles for fingers that were attached by strings to her body. Her left arm was a claw, like Dad. She also had two sets of mouths, one on top of the other. She had short, dark blue hair, a vulture-like neck and she wore a dark blue frilly sundress.

Timmy slothfully dragged large, iron balls attached by chains not far behind Mom. An ogre-shaped corpse golem, Timmy had two, eyeless heads, instead having multiple eyes all around his body, and under bit jaws. His skin was thick and dark red, covered behind scales. He had four arms like Rose except his arms were larger and wielded a black iron greataxe. He wore pants stitched together from different pieces of cloth.

"Big sister!" Timmy cried out, his voice metallic and lethargic, as he swept Hekate off her feet and locked her in an embrace similar to Safira's.

"Timmy!" Safira threw herself over Timmy's shoulder.

"Sweetie, it's been so long since we've seen you!" Mom caressed Hekate, followed by my reminder that it has only been one week.

"It's so sad when you don't visit us… I wish you would visit your Mom and Dad more." Dad spoke slowly, as if he was always in pain.

"I'd never forget about you guys!" Hekate smiled. "You're my family!"

"We love you, honey!" Mom hugged me."And all your friends!"Mom tried to break the ice, "So, do you want to ride the Coaster of Doom again?"

"No," Rose replied. "They're in Fairy Tail and need our help with the mission."

"Oh… The mission…" Dad's tongue rolled out of his mouth, reaching the ground. "Once again, we'll have to see your Mom get mad."

"Fairy Tail will meet its end quickly, dear!" Mom flashed her dagger-like teeth as Rose rolled Dad's tongue back into his mouth.

Rose interrupted, "First, Hekate needs to gather information."

A few seconds later, Mom opened her mouth, releasing a swarm of tiny eyeballs—some with bat-like wings protruding from opposite sides and others with four spider-like legs—the Eye-Spy. Monitored through the use of the head Eye, the Eye-Spy are creatures of reconnaissance.

"I'll help you collect information," Mom explained, "take them back with you to the guild."

"I'll signal you guys, when we are ready." Hekate flashed two thumbs up.

"Do you have to leave now, sweetie?"Mom asked as she held Hekate tightly, not ready to let go of her "child".

"I wish I didn't have to, but I must!" Hekate raised her index finger. "If the Fairies tortured themselves then it wouldn't be as fun!"

"As always, I'll be waiting for you to return." Rose hugged Hekate once more.

I plucked Safira off Timmy's shoulder, dragging her across the sodden grass as Hekate opened a portal back to the campsite. Hekate's family waved as we left.

"I love you, big sister!" Timmy cried out.

We lit the bonfire at our little campsite,as usual, and watched as the Eye-Spy dispersed. The head Eye, differing in size from the other Eye-Spy, stayed with us; Hekate stuffed the head Eye in her bag. Safira yawned and stretched, perching herself on top of her favorite tree. She rested her head on the ant-filled bark of the tree, moving her fingers along with the movement of the ants. She gazed in awe as a larger ant triumphantly carried his enemy and threw him out of the tree.

Safira slowly fell asleep; Hekate and I waited for the next day.

The next day, we went to the Fairy Tail guild, _again_, slightly shocked at the sight of a flying woman. She flew, her waving blonde hair a river in the sky, and rested atop one of the beams of the building, moving her feet methodically. She watched as the Fairy Tail members busily worked with her green eyes, smiling contently. I looked around for Lucy so that I could ask who the person flying was. I sensed a hint of strange, almost necromantic energy coming from her.

"It's a dead person!" Hekate pointed while she threw her head back in laughter.

"But why does everything pop out of nowhere?! First the beach and now this?! Who is this woman?" I muttered, a little too loud.

I found Lucy leaning on a wall besideHappy and Natsu, blushing, apparently complaining of a joke the former had made earlier.

Safira grabbed Lucy's shoulder. "Lucy! Who is that woman and why is that woman flying?"

Lucy smiled as she noticed Safira's presence. She greeted, "Hi Safira!" Then turned to where the 'flying woman' was. Lucy informed us, "That's Mavis Vermillion, Fairy Tail's first guild master."

"Wha—?" Safira jumped. "Shouldn't she be dead?!" _So she is a ghost, _I thought.

"She kinda came back as a ghost. It happened when we were at Tenrou Island. A black dragon named Acnologia attacked us." Lucy, sensing that we were still confused, explained further, "Tenrou Island is a sacred place for us, where Mavis was buried. She appeared to save us from Acnologia's blast and has stuck with us since."

_Acnologia_;the name had somehow filled Hekate with a mild bliss; she rolled on the floor, humming.

"How come we didn't see her yesterday or the day before?" I asked.

"She was out somewhere, doing some things," Lucy dismissed with a shrug. "Let's go introduce you to her; she can only be seen by those with the guild mark, by the way." Lucy called out to Mavis. Mavis jumped to where we were, her frilly pink dress making it seem as though she was floating.

"Yes Lucy? You called for me?" Mavis blinked.

"Yeah!Just wanted to introduce you to the new guild members!" Lucy smiled.

"New members?" Mavis turned her head slightly stared at us.

"Meet Hex, Hekate, and Safira!" Lucy introduced us respectively. Mavis stared at Safira and smiled.

"You're the first guild master?" Safira asked; Mavis nodded. "Cool! So, how's it like as a ghost?"

"Not bad! I get to see how the guild is growing!" Mavis chirped as Safira poked her ethereal body. "Though I could do without having to use the bathroom all the time."

"Why does a ghost need to use the bathroom?" I wondered aloud, under my breath. I glanced at the fairy-like guild master.

Mavis looked at me and Hekate, her face changing expression from content to horror. She gazed into my demoniac eyes and shuddered. The wing-like part of her hair accessory lowered like a dog would lower his ears when frightened. She trembled,sensing something fierce, somehow perspiring, and muttered under her breath.

"These two are in Fairy Tail?!" Mavis shook.

"Well, yeah. What's wrong?" Lucy tried to console the first guild master but failed.

"B-but! T-those two aren't human," she whispered. She was partially incorrect.

"W-what do you mean they aren't human?!" Lucy jumped. "They look human right?"

"We _are _human," I defended. _Or at least part human_.

"Y-yes, b-but!" Mavis paused as she struggled to speak, staring into my stoic eyes once more.

_You know it's not a good idea to tell them; things will only get complicated. Don't tell the Fairies about us._

She mouthed, "I must do it to protect the guild."

_That won't help. Tell them that we are human. Don't tell them what we are._

Her eyes stopped shaking; it seemed like she understood. She breathed,"Yeah… They're human."

"Weird…Why was she—?" Lucy rubbed her eyes as the troubled Mavis walked away. Lucy looked at me and Hekate. "She said you two weren't human…"

"B-but we are human," I spoke innocently. "I don't know why she said we aren't."

"Mavis wouldn't make anything up." Lucy frowned.

"Maybe she thought we were someone else?" I suggested.

"I don't know." Lucy shook her head. "Maybe."

I tried to shift the conversation somewhere else. "So, Lucy… Let's talk about the jobs on the request board."

"Right! Since you're in Fairy Tail, you should get busy doing jobs! You'll need to earn Jewel if you're going to pay your rent."

"Rent?" Safira turned her head. "What's that?"

"The stuff you need to pay for your home?"

"You need to pay rent to live in the forest?!" Safira groaned. "That blows!"

"You live in the forest?!"

"Wherever there're squirrels!" Safira spread her arms and spun.

"That's terrible!The forest isn't a good place to sleep! You should rent a room at Fairy Hills! That's where most of our female members live!"

"What about the squirrels? I need them!" Safira cried out.

Safira's excitement increased greatly after what Lucy had said afterward. "Pets are allowed at Fairy Hills! It's _your _room. Just get a pet and take it home with you!"

I interrupted their conversation. "No pets."

"It's _my _decision, Hex! All I need is some Jewel!" Safira looked at Lucy. "How much is this 'rent'?

"About 100,000 Jewel per month!" Lucy smiled half-heartedly. "Don't worry! Remember that mission we did two days ago?"

Safira nodded. "We earned 50,000 Jewel didn't we?" She pouted. "But Hex told you to keep it."

"Don't worry! I'll give it back you, so you'll only need 50,000 more for the first month. I already paid my rent." Safira bowed as if Lucy was a goddess, getting down on her knees.

Lucy blushed; Safira boosted her ego.

Suddenly, Gray called out Lucy's name. The naked man's voice echoed. "Hey Lucy! Come over here!" Lucy walked away, stating that she'd talk to us later, as Safira stood up.

I didn't want Safira to have another pet to kill, so I whispered into her ear, "Don't you dare get a room at Fairy Hills."

Safira stuck out her tongue, but after staring into my eyes, she knew what was going to happen.

"I'm sorry! I'll do it myself!"She grabbed her tongue and pulled it.

I placed my palm on my face. "Just get a pet. It'll be your problem when it dies."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She hugged me.

"Let's just go on a stupid mission now." _That'll give me some time to see what's happening through the Eye-Spy._

We marched to the request board. Ichose a simple request that involved going into a forest to the South and collecting a certain item at its center.

Safira cheered. "Hex, do you think we'll find any interesting animals there?!"

"Whatever." I grabbed the sheet of paper with the request. "'Reward: 50,000 Jewel.' Perfect."

"Get me a room too!" Hekate shook me. "And a zebra, and a lion, and a turtle, and a snake, and a crocodile!"

"Animals are _my _thing!" Safira argued.

I lowered my scythe in between the two of them. "Shut up and march."

The forest was more of a swamp, containing numerous swarms of mosquitoes that constantly picked at your skin and thick branches hiding underneath muddy, murky water that tripped you if you weren't paying attention. The mangrove trees sheltered brightly colored orange and blue birds with unrealistically large eyes that cooed annoyingly as you passed by. A fish nibbled at my legs as I squinted, trying to see through the dense fog.

I grew agitated as we walked farther inside the swamp.I finally blew it. "I can't see anything in this damn fog!"

"Why are we here?" Safira looked around. "What was it that we were supposed to look for?"

"Something at the center of this swamp… I don't know." I shrugged, swatting some flies away.

I quickly shifted my attention to a giggling Hekate, who held the head Eye and was gazing into it. "What's so funny?"

"Shhh! The little woman is talking!" Hekate turned around.

"What little woman? Let me see!" I insisted, but she was being difficult. I snatched the head Eye from under her arms and gazed at a vision of Mavis, who spoke nervously to Makarov in his room.

"_Makarov," she said shakily, "I need to tell you about the new members."_

"_What about our new members?" He smiled, obviously in a good mood._

"_Well… Safira is okay, but Hex and Hekate… They aren't human!" _

_Makarov jumped, momentarily startled. "What do you mean they aren't human?"_

"_Well… Partly! They're half-demon!" She explained, "I don't need to tell you how they came to be, but half-demons are usually dangerous!"_

"_Half-demons? Are you sure?" _

_Mavis nodded._

"_Hmmm…" Makarov contemplated. "I trust your judgment. I'll make sure to keep an eye on them, in case they do anything."_

I gritted my teeth. _Damn it, she told the guild master!_

As we walked in circles around the swamp, trying to find its center, I looked at other recordings being captured by the Eye-Spy.

Safira took the head Eye away from me and stared at Gray. "Look it's Lucy and Gray and Natsu! Oh and the one with the blue hair!"

"Which one? There are four with blue hair… I think." I used my fingers to count the blue-haired women in Fairy Tail.

"She's on top of Gray, so… Juvia!" she exclaimed.

"Gray-sama belongs to Juvia," I said mockingly. The four stood in front of the request board, deciding on what job to do.

_Natsu groaned. "They all look boring. I got an idea!" He added jokingly, "Let's go do an S-class job!"_

_Erza, whose face was unseen, yelled, "Not on my watch!"_

"_Hmmm… Maybe I'll work on my novel today! It's been a while since I've added something to it," Lucy suggested._

"_Let's all crash at Lucy's!" Natsu cheered._

_Lucy blushed. "Girls only!"_

_Erza's voice echoed. "Sounds like a plan!"_

I heard Makarov's voice. _"Erza! Laxus! Could you come in here?"_

I grabbed the head Eye and switched to the Eye-Spy in Makarov's room. Erza and Laxus walked in.

"_What is it, Gramps?" Laxus asked as he took off his headphones. "Something wrong?"_

"_You've met our latest members' right?"_

"_Who?" Laxus turned his head. I don't care about you either, diarrhea medicine, _I thought. _"Oh, right. Those three that came in two days ago."_

"_Hekate, Hex, and Safira…" Erza muttered. "Did they do something, master?"_

"_No," he explained, "but Mavis said that Hex and Hekate are half-demon."_

_Erza looked confused. "Half-demon?"_

"_You know," Makarov said a bit shyly, "when a demon and human get together..."_

"_What do you want us to do then?" Laxus suddenly looked straight the Eye-Spy. _I jumped.

"_I need you two to keep an eye on them for a while; make sure they aren't planning to bring any harm to any of my children." Makarov turned around. "Mavis's judgment isn't wrong."_

Like soldiers, Erza and Laxus agreed, and as they left, Laxus flung a small bolt of lightning, destroying the Eye-Spy; I jumped.

"Great, now they know!"

Safira patted me on the back. "It's okay Hex. It doesn't matter."

"Whatever. Let's get on with this stupid job."

At the center of the swamp we found a small patch of parasite-infested ground and a small wooden treasure chest. Brightly colored mushrooms also grew on the black earth. I thought that perhaps I should save them for later so that I could feed them to Safira. I plucked a few mushrooms from the ground and stuffed them unknowingly into Hekate's bag. It was strange that there was no fog in this strip of land, but we did hear snoring. The noise appeared as though it was emanating from the chest.

"Let's open it!" Safira suggested as she attempted to open the chest.

I grabbed her arm. "The chest is snoring and yet, knowing that, you still want to open it?"

"Well… Yeah! The job asked us to find something at the center of this swamp!"

"Knock on the door and ask nicely!" Hekate knocked on Safira's head.

I reached to open the chest, running my fingers along its golden edges. The chest woke up and growled, attempting to grab me with its long tongue bite me with its large teeth. I jumped out of the way, thought that did not help; it spat a viscous adhesive that glued my arms and legs to a nearby mangrove tree. It grew pseudopods from its side and crawled to where I was to eat me—the usual behavior of a mimic.

"Fuck this mimic!" I exclaimed. "Safira, Hekate! Get over here and help!"

They were crouched down, their attention focused on two snails racing across the strip of barren land to get into the water. Safira cheered for the first snail, a bright red mollusk with star-like markings on its shell, while Hekate cheered for the second, a slimy green ball of mucous.

"Hello? Safira! Hekate! Stop looking at the snails! Destroy the mimic!"

"I-I can't Hex!" Safira's eyes appeared twice as big as she watched the snail slowly dip its pseudopod into the water. "It's so amazing!"

Hekate pounded her fists against the sodden earth. "Come on! Explode already!"

The mimic wrapped its pseudopod around my body, licking my face so as to taste me, and prepared to chomp. It occurred to me that my scarf—named Soul—was unglued as the mimic's gaping maw loomed over my face. Soul wouldn't let harm come to me before coming to it.

"Soul, you can help right?" I asked the scarf; it barked in agreement.

Soul extended his arms and held the mimic's mouth open. I remembered that the adhesive of a mimic can beremoved with saliva, though it tasted awful. I licked off the adhesive the mimic had secreted and freed both my arms. I freed the rest of my body and grabbed my scythe. The mimic jumped toward me but with a single spin of Blood Hunt I impaled it, the blade running through its tongue. I quickly reached into its mouth and ripped out its small black core—the control center that needs to be destroyed for a mimic to truly die.

I crushed the heart; the mimic coughed out strange objects as it died. It coughed books, coins, jewels, pieces of clothing, hair, bits of sofa cushioning, an index finger, and a potato. I noticed a ring with a bright, rainbow-colored stone and stuffed it in my pocket. I took a deep breath, feeling victorious, and then proceeded to bark at Safira and Hekate.

I glared at them. "Thanks for helping me."

They were _still_ looking at the snails, not caring at all that a mimic tried to eat me. I waved my hand in their faces; they were in a trance, their eyes locked on the snails.

Safira placed a finger on my mouth. "Don't scare Mr. and Mrs. Mollusk!"

I grabbed the two snails and gently placed them in the water. "There. Let's round up the treasure and let's go speak to whoever requested this."

We returned to the guild an hour later; I demanded to know who ordered for the completion of this job. Near the request board danced a mysterious thin character in a jester's attire—striped black and white—the four bells at the tip of his hat jingling. He had heterochromia—one eye green, the other grey—and bore black star-shaped marks underneath each in his pale face. A small tuft of white hair stuck from his hat, having some streaks of black, fitting his coloration and theme. Arms akimbo, he looked at us and smiled.

"Hey you!" I called out. "Are you the one who wanted something at the middle of a swamp?"

He bowed and extended a hand. "Chester the Jester, at your service!"

"Can I keep him?!" Hekate jumped up and down excitedly.

"I'm not asking for your name; I'm asking if you're the guy who wanted something at the middle of a swamp."

"It is I who asked you to retrieve something!" Chester laughed.

"Well, there was nothing there but a mimic."

Chester did a cartwheel and bent his body in a pretzel-like shape. "Ah, but you see! It is what's in the chest that is mine!"

"I found a lot of random shit. Nothing else except a strange ring." I showed Chester the iridescent gold ring.

He snatched the ring while still in his pretzel form. "Ah! A winner is you! This is my family ring! The treasure chest took it while I was dancing in the middle of a dangerous swamp! It's been taking everyone's prized possessions!"_This guy…is too dumb to live. You can have him, Hekate._

"It apparently also takes heads and limbs," I added. "Stupid mimic tried to eat me."

He prostrated himself. "Oh the sorrow!"

I glared at Chester._You asshole. I hope Hekate castrates you._ "So, where's our reward?"

Chester took out 50,000 Jewel and appeared to have placed it in the air. He laughed. "Here you go!"

I reached for the Jewel but there was an invisible barrier blocking the way. I felt like strangling the jester/mime thing. "What gives?"

"Oh, ho ho! Youknow not of Chester's Mime Magic!" He leaped into the air and twirled his body two, three, four times before landing. "My Mime Magic won't let you through an invisible barrier until you solve my riddle!"

Chester took out three colorful balls and began to juggle as he balanced himself on a single leg.

"Ugh," I sighed as I walked away.

"Sir! Please, don't leave!" he cried out. "I'm in the middle of my performance!"

"Safira, _you_ want a room in Fairy Hills. _You _deal with it."

I retreated back to the campsite outside Magnolia and merely waited. For hours I waited for Hekate and Safira to return from wherever they went. _What's taking them so long? He's just a mime. Or a jester; I really don't know…_

Hekate and Safira came back at nighttime, each holding a cone of chocolate and mint ice cream respectively. Hekate licked her ice cream voraciously while Safira savored every taste of mint in her mouth. They also had face paintings on the other side of their cheeks, Hekate having a painting of a flaming bunny and Safira having a painting of a blue squirrel.

"Where were you two? Why'd you take so long?" I asked.

"The pretzel-man invited us to a place to get ice cream and there was a clown that painted our faces, broooooooooo!" _Safira is probably drunk. She's had too much ice cream. Now it'll take forever for her to go to sleep._

"But they didn't explode. That makes me sad." Hekate sighed.

"Why did that take so long?"

Safira shrugged.

"Did you at least get the Jewel?"

"Yup." Safira took a bite out of the cone. "Though I can't get a room yet."

"Why not?"

Safira shrugged again. "I'm sleepy."

I stared at her blankly. "That's why you want a room."

"Meh." She took her final bites, sipping the few drops that dripped out of the bottom of the cone, and then got back on her tree.

I glanced at Hekate. "Hekate, I'm heading out."

"Checking up on her again?"

I nodded. "You can come if you want."

There was a waterfall near Magnolia, close to the ruins we had explored prior to arriving at Fairy Tail. We walked there silently so to not wake up Safira, but with her obnoxious snoring, she wouldn't notice anyway. The water crashed from a mountain hundreds of feet high onto a large river. As usual, we jumped through the waterfall and into a crevice. To the unaided eye, no one could tell that there was a cave through the waterfall. Besides, with the pressure of the water, no one would dare go through it.

Hekate and I went further inside the cave, going through a few paths that Hekate had set up to prevent those who dare enter from finding out. At the center of the cave, past all the passageways, was _her. _Hernearly lifeless body lay on the cold, sodden earth, water dripping from the stalactites ever so slowly onto it. She had no energy; she couldn't move, see, speak, or hear. I gently propped her body with my arm and ran my fingers down her white hair. She had a faint smile on her pale face.

"Don't worry." I sobbed. "I'll get all the Soul Fragments and w-we'll be together again."

A few of my tears dropped on her face. "I-I promise I'll save you, Mama. I love you so much."

My nose overflowed with mucus; I quickly wiped the sulphur gathering at the edge of my nose with my sleeve. "We'll be done soon. Just a few more."

I kissed her gently on her forehead. "W-we'll breathe together again. I promise, Mama."

I embraced her and continued to weep, a few whimpers escaping from my throat, the unknown droplets coursing down to my chin. I whispered into her ear, despite that she couldn't hear me, "Please… Don't leave me."

Hekate blankly stared at me as I continued to lament over my mother in her unfortunate state, huddled over her body.

"I promise you, Mama."


End file.
